Welding 1/4 aluminium advice

[yorkie_chris]

Did a bit more this weekend.

Actually managed a bit of vertical up which looked reasonable... pushing... thinking **** have I just been going the wrong way.


These pics are all from welds done flat, any advice from what you can see in the pics?

 

[Hood]

They look fairly good to me, first one looks a bit hot though and seems to be lacking in gas coverage/

Not sure what you are meaning about pushing in the vertical? With Alu you should always be pushing when at all possible, on some occasions due to the weld location you may have no choice.

 

[yorkie_chris]

Pushing as in the torch facing uphill, going upwards.

I was going opposite way before, going upwards but torch facing downhill as I thought the weld had to sit on top of the previous bit of weld.

 

[Brad93]

You need to keep your stickout shorter or increase your gas flow. You should get a clean weld with the soot about 1 or 2mm from the weld toes.

Definitely a gas shielding issue there.

 

[Hood]

Pushing as in the torch facing uphill, going upwards.

I was going opposite way before, going upwards but torch facing downhill as I thought the weld had to sit on top of the previous bit of weld.

Ah ok, not the best approach
BTW what grade Alu is it, I found that 6082 suffers a lot more sooting to the weld surrounds than 5083 when using a standard MIG although the first one is still a bit black even for that.
Torch angle can make a big difference to the gas coverage as well, too much and it will cause issues.

 

[yorkie_chris]

5083

 

[yorkie_chris]

Cheers guys will bear those bits in mind for next session.

The stickout is not helped by the fact i keep struggling with the blob melting on to the tip when finishing a weld, I think I'm holding too far off because of that. I end up pushing an extra bit of wire out with a trigger pull after lifting off to try and stop this.

Annoyingly on this R tech the only burnback adjustment is to send it back to the factory and get them to change it

 

[lincoln17]

Don't know if this is an option for you, but I remember the first time I fitted a full length shelter deck to a fishing boat, she was about 50" I didn't have a fancy mig. I hired a top of range synergic kemppi, fitted with a 10 metre weld snake torch from Macgregors in Inverness and 5 x 1.2mm rolls 5356 ally wire. It wasn't dear and it opened my eyes, if you have the right machine alloy is as easy as steel, and with a machine like the Kemppi you will do the job better and faster.

 

[henry Kadzielski]

^^^ Unfortunately that is very true, along with knowing how to use it. Even with the best equipment things can go wrong, wrong settings and or adjustments, not knowing what to expect and or what to do, have very significant influence on the results. Once you know your equipment, over time you can improve the results and end up with very good results. This is then dependent on getting good and regular use out of the equipment. You learn from you mistakes but you learn faster from your successes. I remember fiddling to get what I wanted, however not quite knowing what, where, and how to adjust the machine eventually had me so confused I had to walk away or something was getting dismantled quickly and inefficiently. If you can get some pointers from someone that knows what to expect will help greatly.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

I had to walk away or something was getting dismantled quickly and inefficiently

 

[yorkie_chris]

Yes when I build the deckhouse I am seriously thinking of hiring a better machine but need to find a hire shop that will help with settings etc or I may as well use my own machine that I know

 

[yorkie_chris]

Possibly another stupid question, I'm using a 1.4mm tip for 1.2mm wire to allow for the expansion of the ally. Is this right?

 

[Hood]

Yes that is right or you can actually get 1.2A ones which are just oversized 1.2 for Aluminium.
Not sure the actual difference in the bore, never measured but I have used both and never really noticed a difference.

 

[henry Kadzielski]

Good morning I think the older Fronius tips for alli were 1.4mm to be used with 1.2mm wire. I think that now they stamp them 1.2 alli which takes care of that. All Binzel tips are 1.2A for alli, that means the copies are also stamped the same way, but then we are upside down here

 

[Seano]

I have followed this post with interest and was just wondering if as brad93 says, use a short stick out but as you travel up the joint move your torch tip in a succession of "cursive E's" or tiny circles which will allow the bottom edge of your pool to cool slightly and not just dribbling down the joint, just a thought

 

[Hood]

I have followed this post with interest and was just wondering if as brad93 says, use a short stick out but as you travel up the joint move your torch tip in a succession of "cursive E's" or tiny circles which will allow the bottom edge of your pool to cool slightly and not just dribbling down the joint, just a thought

Those are some of the ways it can be done, also whip up and down as you go can be utilised, lots of different ways depending on joint, material thickness etc etc. You just have to employ the method that works, often changing as the weld progresses and gets hotter.

 

[yorkie_chris]

Had good luck with this last few tries, seemed to be a case of getting the machine settings bang on rather than anything else for sussing the vertical up bit with the E's technique

Thanks for all the help guys

 

[hotponyshoes]

Plus the 2 years of practice you have had... you should be finding it a breeze by now

 

[yorkie_chris]

Me again...
Switched to a water cooled torch as the original ones were overheating a lot. With a water cooled torch do you still use the oversized tips for alu wire? Or go back down to same size? As keep getting some odd things with the wire hitting the job and just burning little messy bits of wire off instead of properly arcing up. Contact problem some where don't know if it is between the tip and the wire.

 

[Brad93]

Me again...
Switched to a water cooled torch as the original ones were overheating a lot. With a water cooled torch do you still use the oversized tips for alu wire? Or go back down to same size? As keep getting some odd things with the wire hitting the job and just burning little messy bits of wire off instead of properly arcing up. Contact problem some where don't know if it is between the tip and the wire.

Try a standard tip not an aluminium oversized tip